Fireworks

Went to scope out the fireworks at Powderhorn Park last night, with the lovely wife as well as David P., Pete, Dr. Andy, and Bethany. I took along the photo gear; some very nice results, I think for a first-timer.





These are all ISO 200, f/8, 2-3 seconds exposure, on the 2 second timer because I don't have a remote shutter release. I think if I did it again, I'd just do a bulb exposure on f/9.5 (and thus a remote shutter would be essential).

Tearing Down Buildings in Cedar-Riverside (2)

I came back the next day (Tuesday the 3rd) with a different lens and took some wide-angle images.

This is taken from nearly the same angle as the Hulk Hogan's Pastamania image from 2/20 in this post. You can actually see the forlorn remains of the Pastamania awning in the junk heap in the middleground.

Messy sidewalk by the destruction. That's the Mixed Blood Theatre in the background, and also the chair in a tree.

Project 100, #48, #49.

Science Classroom Building (6)

There's more destruction remaining for the science classroom building (I thought they'd finished). I do recommend clicking through to the bigger photo on this one, as capturing the whole scene makes everything in it rather small.

The new fisheye lens doesn't fit through the fence like the 50mm Tak does, so you get the fence too. It's "artistic", so you'll like it or you have no class.

Note that the lens was nearly touching the fence (the tiny lens hood was). It's pretty wide at 10mm.

Project 100, #29.

Science Classroom Building (5)

Sorry, can't get enough. More of the reptilian death machine at work.

Project 100, #24.

Science Classroom Building (4)

This clumsy reptilian machine was hammering away at the science classroom building yesterday morning.

Project 100, #22, #23.

Manly Things: Fixing the Toaster

Today, I disassembled the toaster. The door wasn't staying closed all the way, so it wouldn't turn on. Erin had jerry-rigged it with a magnet, which was rather ingenious, but a bit fiddly.

The problem was this spring, which had come out of alignment and was preventing the other spring from closing the door properly.

So, I removed it.

The door now closes right, but it turns out this spring is what holds the door open when it's opened (so you can put toast and things in and out). So, we'll see how that goes. My toaster is downstairs in a box (this one is Erin's), but Erin thinks it's horrible.

Project 100, #20, #21.

Science Classroom Building (3)

You may be sick of photos of the Science Classroom Building, but here's another one anyway. Same viewpoint as the last one, different (and nicer) lens.

They seem to have hauled away much of the framing and are now jackhammering away the concrete. This building is attached to the Washington Avenue Bridge, which is covered on the pedestrian level. This means that as you cross from west to east during the day, you basically go down a tunnel of hammering and shaking that gets louder and louder. It's rather disconcerting, particularly since the bridge is partially closed due to structural problems.

I submitted this photo to the PentaxForums.com monthly photo contest. I don't expect to win (and in fact it would be a little sad if I did), but it would be nice to get a few votes and not come in last. We'll see; voting opens on February 1.

Project 100, #15.

Science Classroom Building (2)

Here's a night shot (20-second exposure) of the Science Classroom Building, with additional tearing down. This is from my first session experimenting with long exposures.

Project 100, #14.

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In a program note: I've been shooting RAW+JPEG thus far (and the JPEGs are what make their way onto this blog). However, I realized that Picasa, which is what I've been posting with, supports my camera's RAW, and I'll have some RAW converter(s) installed on my Linux box shortly too, so I'm going to shoot just RAW for a bit -- less hassle with double files.

Science Classroom Building

The "Science Classroom Building" at the U is being torn down and replaced.

Project 100, #10.